The invention relates to underwater oil wells, and specifically to methods for controlling underwater oil well leaks. In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, caught fire, and soon sank. Shortly thereafter it was reported oil was leaking from the rig. Various reports estimated the rate of flow of the leak was anywhere from 35,000 to 80,000 barrels of crude oil per day. As of the date of the filing of the above-referenced provisional patent application, various methods had been considered to stop the oil flow, but the methods were either rejected, or tried and failed. The methods included: 1) the “top kill” which involved pumping tons of mud into the ruptured pipe; 2) the “junk shot” which involved jamming up the pipe with huge amounts of golf balls and other trash; 3) containing the leak by placing a containment chamber over the ruptured pipe and then pumping the captured oil to the surface (and in one alternative injecting methanol into the chamber to heat the water so as to limit the creation of crystals that had caused a previous containment attempt to fail); and 4) reinserting a tube into the well's riser stack to siphon the oil back top the surface. Yet as of that date, the oil continued to leak. There thus is a great need for methods to contain, reduce, and/or stop underwater oil leaks.